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Good Day International friends. This is Doug Nagy and it is a great honour for me to be allowed to post a review on Film Junk. Jay and Sean have been friends of mine for a long time, and are gentlemen of great insight and taste.

For Movember, Wintle and the Webmaster had an idea to do reviews of awesome films starring guys with mustaches. Burt Reynolds has as good a stache as Saddam and the movie I will be reviewing is Smokey and the Bandit.

A wealthy gambler makes a wager with a truck driver down in his luck. The bet is simple, if you can drive to Texas and bootleg 400 cases of Coors Light across state lines to Atlanta – you win. You have 28 hours to get it done; starting now.

There is no downtime in this movie. Once the wager is made the Bandit asks for enough money to buy 400 cases and a Trans Am. The legendary black beauty is used by the bandit to run defense in front of the rig. Should the truck get some attention from the law, the bandit squeals the tires, and gets the heat away from the transport truck by stealing the attention, shaking them off his tail and then returning to the rig. It’s no surprise that the man in the 18 wheeler who wants no heat is known as “The Snowman’. He’s a cool, steady operator and a complimentary partner to the showboating Bandit.

The way to Texas goes down smooth but on the way back to Georgia a hitchhiking runaway bride is picked up along the way. The bride is great company for the bandit, but at great cost – for she was to be the bride of Sherriff Buford T. Justice’s son! The bandit, who is trying to avoid heat welcomes hell into his car and the ire of a lawman as determined as he. Defending the honour of both his family and the state of Texas – Sherriff Buford T. (Jackie Gleason) will stop at nothing until he drags this deserter back to the altar.

From here the chase is on and Sherriff Buford T. Justice chases the bandit through every highway and byway from Texas to Alabama. This is the eternal game of cat and mouse. Both the Bandit and Buford T. love nothing more than what they are doing and we get to watch iron sharpen iron.

As the Bandit zig zags across the country old and new friends give him help (and an edge) through the CB radio. The CB radio is both the bandit’s 6th sense and the conscience of America!

Love sprouts, people shout, cars crash and special mention should be made of the young Sally Field’s ass. This movie is all about the journey and the journey never stops. The chemistry between characters is fantastic and we get a glimpse into how they became legends in the first place.

This movie is an American classic, a celebration of the open road and slow dancing with lady luck.

9/9 Hydra heads

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rjdelight

Great review Doug. You’ve got to do the podcast again sometime. Been too long.